Turkish Drones Target Security Guards at Al-Hol Camp, ISIS Families Try to Escape

A general view of al-Hol camp in Syria. Reuters file photo
A general view of al-Hol camp in Syria. Reuters file photo
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Turkish Drones Target Security Guards at Al-Hol Camp, ISIS Families Try to Escape

A general view of al-Hol camp in Syria. Reuters file photo
A general view of al-Hol camp in Syria. Reuters file photo

Two Turkish strikes Wednesday targeted forces guarding the exterior of Syria's Al-Hol detention camp, amid a state of chaos and fear among ISIS families and attempts by some of them to flee, a war monitor said.

The camp is home to over 50,000 people including relatives of suspected ISIS militants.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the number of airstrikes fired by Turkish drones on areas held by the Autonomous Administration had amounted to 15 on Wednesday.

A Turkish drone attacked two positions in al-Malkiyah countryside in far north eastern Syria, the SOHR said.

In the first attack, the drone shelled positions in Shirk village, and in the second attack the drone attacked a fuel station in Ala Qos area in al-Malkiyah countryside near borders between Syria and Iraq.

A Turkish drone also hit power transmission station near a coronavirus hospital in al-Qamishli, while ambulances rushed to the targeted area.

The London-based war monitor had previously reported that a Turkish drone targeted a checkpoint for the (Kurdish) Asayesh security forces in Abu Rasin town in Hasaka’s northwestern countryside, injuring members of the checkpoint.

Another Turkish drone also targeted a house in Kararshak village in the countryside of Ain al-Arab (Kobani).

Turkish drones further targeted an oil station in Mashuq village and the Kil Hasnak station in al-Qahtaniyah countryside.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.